How the Dallas Mavericks could line up with Cooper Flagg

The Dallas Mavericks selected Duke forward Cooper Flagg with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Flagg has been the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in his class since he was a young teenager and lived up to expectations in his stellar freshman season at Duke in 2024/25.

Flagg averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists on 48.1% FG and 38.5% 3P in 37 total games. The Blue Devils won the ACC Tournament before losing in the national semifinal to Houston, despite being title favorites throughout the tournament.

It was always going to be just the one college season for Flagg, who will turn 19 on December 21, 2025. Now, he will take on a brand new challenge in the NBA, where he is expected to be an All-Star caliber player and franchise cornerstone for the next decade-plus.

Let’s assess how the Mavericks could line up in 2025/26 with Flagg officially headed to Dallas.

2025/26 Dallas Mavericks potential starting lineup and rotation

Starters

• PG Max Christie
• SG Klay Thompson
• SF Cooper Flagg
• PF Daniel Gafford
• C Anthony Davis

Bench

• G Jaden Hardy
• G/F Caleb Martin
• F PJ Washington
• F Naji Marshall
• C Dereck Lively II

While Flagg is listed as a forward, there is every possibility that he is the primary ball-handler for Dallas in the 2025/26 season.

Listed at 6-foot-9, Flagg has elite ball-handling and playmaking skills for his size, a big reason he is the consensus No. 1 pick. His athletic profile isn’t too dissimilar to a rookie Luka Doncic, who was listed at 6-foot-7, 218 pounds when he entered the NBA in 2018. Flagg doesn’t have the same ball-on-a-string dribbling or deep shooting range as Luka, but he is more athletic and longer than the former Mavs standout.

And with no Kyrie Irving for most or all of the 2025/26 season as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in March 2025, Flagg’s services might be needed at the point guard position. Other guards currently on Dallas’ 2025/26 roster include Max Christie, Klay Thompson, Jaden Hardy, and Brandon Williams, none of whom are expected to be the team’s starting point guard.

Christie, Thompson, Hardy, and other off-ball players like PJ Washington and Naji Marshall will likely play off Flagg and spread the floor, rather than the other way around.

Dallas’ frontcourt has potential to be elite. Not only do they have five-time All-Defensive selection Anthony Davis manning the paint, but they just signed Daniel Gafford to a three-year, $54.7 million extension, not to mention Dereck Lively II, a top performer in the Mavericks’ run to the 2024 NBA Finals.

Flagg likely won’t have to worry about guarding opposing big men with those names, but he will certainly add to the Mavs’ versatility on that side of the ball.

David Schneidman

• Dallas Mavericks
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